Xerox today announced that Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri is leaving the company to take the position of Corporate Controller at Apple. The move will be effective February 28.

Quote:

"Luca is a stellar finance executive whose contributions have brought great value to the transformation of Xerox into a services enterprise," said Ursula Burns, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer. "He's helped strengthen our financial foundation, which will serve his successor, our company and our shareholders well for the long term."

At Apple, Maestri will succeed Betsy Rafael, who retired last October. Rafael had served as Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Officer, and the role of Principal Accounting Officer shifted to Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer upon her retirement.

you beat me on that one ... was wondering too. But money and some other "sweats" makes it easier. And maybe with the outlook to become the next CFO ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mankar4

CFO to controller? Must have been a nice compensation package.

Peter Oppenheimer is only 50 according to the proxy that came out on Monday. That said, Tim Cook has yet to name a replacement COO, so it's possible Oppenheimer would make a lateral move within the C-level (assuming he's up to it - finance guys don't always make good operations people).

That said, Apple is a much bigger organization, though. It could be a nice challenge. Oppenheimer's cash salary was $805,000 last year, up from $700,000 the year before. He also got a $1.6 million cash bonus, up from $700,000 the year before. However, the real prize was the $66.5 million stock award. He didn't get any in 2011, but got $28 million in 2010.

I'd guess that the controller will probably get a salary and bonus in the $500K range each. The real money will come a bit later if he sticks around (in the form of restricted stock). The days of Apple having insane stock price growth are probably over, but they should still be a solid high margin company for some time.

The controller is the head accountant and usually reports up to the CFO. In most organizations the CFO manages both the corporate controller and the corporate treasurer. On a side note, with over $100 billion in cash and investments, Apple's treasury department is a behemoth of its own. It's the equivalent of a large bank.

Well Xerox compensates their corporate employees very well (more the high executives than the engineers in the front line). With that said they're probably paying him more than $500k. Look at his salary of 2 years ago.http://www.forbes.com/profile/luca-maestri/

Not bad for a company that's not currently leading in technology.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KPOM

Peter Oppenheimer is only 50 according to the proxy that came out on Monday. That said, Tim Cook has yet to name a replacement COO, so it's possible Oppenheimer would make a lateral move within the C-level (assuming he's up to it - finance guys don't always make good operations people).

That said, Apple is a much bigger organization, though. It could be a nice challenge. Oppenheimer's cash salary was $805,000 last year, up from $700,000 the year before. He also got a $1.6 million cash bonus, up from $700,000 the year before. However, the real prize was the $66.5 million stock award. He didn't get any in 2011, but got $28 million in 2010.

I'd guess that the controller will probably get a salary and bonus in the $500K range each. The real money will come a bit later if he sticks around (in the form of restricted stock). The days of Apple having insane stock price growth are probably over, but they should still be a solid high margin company for some time.

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The controller is the head accountant and usually reports up to the CFO. In most organizations the CFO manages both the corporate controller and the corporate treasurer. On a side note, with over $100 billion in cash and investments, Apple's treasury department is a behemoth of its own. It's the equivalent of a large bank.

Well Xerox compensates their corporate employees very well (more the high executives than the engineers in the front line). With that said they're probably paying him more than $500k. Look at his salary of 2 years ago.http://www.forbes.com/profile/luca-maestri/

Not bad for a company that's not currently leading in technology.

This is from Xerox's proxy last year:

NEW HIRE COMPENSATION PACKAGE FOR LUCA MAESTRI

Quote:

Mr. Maestri’s 2011 compensation was approved in December 2010 at the time he was elected to the position of Chief Financial Officer, effective February 16, 2011. At that time, his annual base salary was approved at $650,000 with a bonus target equal to 100% of base salary. In addition, an E-LTIP award for $1.8 million was approved to be granted on the same date as E-LTIP awards for the other named executive officers. As part of Mr. Maestri’s new hire compensation package, in order to replace certain compensation that he would have received from his prior employer, a cash sign-on bonus of $1.9 million was approved. This sign-on bonus will be paid over three years as long as Mr. Maestri is still employed at Xerox (and is not terminated for cause) as follows: $600,000 in June 2011, $700,000 in January 2012 and $600,000 in January 2013. Mr. Maestri is also eligible to receive relocation assistance under the Xerox Domestic Relocation Policy. This is the same policy provided to other new hires who are required to relocate. If employment had been terminated by Xerox for any reason (other than cause), during his first 12 months of employment, Mr. Maestri would have received 12 months of salary continuance.

....."Luca is a stellar finance executive whose contributions have brought great value to the transformation of Xerox into a services enterprise,” said Ursula Burns, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer.

Rumor has it that Maestri has already taken the lead for the Dundie Award in the "Most Creepiest Looking Dood" category, ahead of Craig Federighi and Dan Riccio- both by a large margin!

Riccio however is still in the running for the "Bushiest Beaver" award. Riccio declined to comment, but sources close to Riccio contacted us under conditions of anonymity, stating that "Mr. Riccio was hoping to attain the tile of creepiest, but does in fact think he fits better in the "Bushiest Beaver" category, and will continue to stay Bushy."

There are likely to be some tumultuous changes in accounting and finance in the coming decade. You may recall Apple had a bit of a scandal over what constituted GAAP and was stating their figures in two different systems for a while. The changes being shoved down corporations and banks by the government this cycle requires considerable adjustments and will be unusually active in the accounting changes department. So this will be a challenging job at all C-suites.

I can see why Apple's accounting lead would choose now to retire.

Apple in particular has considerable assets to manage now so in addition to cash accounting of sales and production, the layer of inside and outside investments in capital, personnel and intellectual property is massively complex and large at Apple.

Rumor has it that Maestri has already taken the lead for the Dundie Award in the "Most Creepiest Looking Dood" category, ahead of Craig Federighi and Dan Riccio- both by a large margin!

Riccio however is still in the running for the "Bushiest Beaver" award. Riccio declined to comment, but sources close to Riccio contacted us under conditions of anonymity, stating that "Mr. Riccio was hoping to attain the tile of creepiest, but does in fact think he fits better in the "Bushiest Beaver" category, and will continue to stay Bushy."

The funny thing is, all these guys have Italian surnames – actually, Luca is an Italian first name, so I guess he must be originally Italian indeed?